The Lost Boy's Heart
by vikung-fu
Summary: Kingdom Hearts crossover, slight Sabé x Naminé, implied Sabé x Amidala At the End of All Worlds, a young boy waits in shadow.


**THE LOST BOY'S HEART**

At first, he had mistaken the creature for a _Fosh_. He had encountered one such representative of the species several years prior to the mission to Zonama Sekot and now, standing on a world similarly possessed of an atmosphere alive with some alien consciousness, Obi-Wan Kenobi could not help but wonder if such places as this had some kind of magnetic attraction for avian species.

The curious alien wore the semblance of a naval uniform however there was no indication of his rank or standing. In his feathered paw, he held a wooden staff of sorts ending in a tiny cloth, steepled hat and a number of belt buckles.

At present the avian was engaged in an animated discussion with its two companions; the first bestial yet passive, possessing a long snout, drooping eyes and a sizeable shield bearing a curious pattern of circles whilst the other was a young human boy, older than Anakin by a year at most and dressed in shorts and oversized shoes.

Upon the boy's back was what appeared to be a colossal key with silver teeth and a golden handle. Hanging from the handle was a symbolic variation of the decoration he had noted on the bestial traveller's shield.

The avian's voice continued to rise; the basic he spoke becoming increasingly indistinguishable from the _squawks_ and _quacks_ it made between words. With a wry smile and a polite cough, Obi-Wan Kenobi attempted to bring some clarity to the conversation.

"If I might interject," he smiled.

The avian offered up a sour glare but ceased his tirade.

"It would appear to me that wherever you intended to travel to," he opened his arms wide to gesture at the dark clouds and ragged cliffs that dominated the horizon of the aged planet, "This really isn't it."

"You're right it isn't!" squawked the avian, his face turning a deep shade of angry red.

Both boy and beast quickly placed the hands over the avian's beak, all but falling over as the avian resisted and became all the more enraged. The boy attempted to smile in what he hoped was a disarming manner.

"We're, ah, looking for our friends," he said carefully.

"Oh, really?" Obi-Wan questioned mildly.

The boy's expression became downcast, his eyes falling to study the detail of his shoes.

"Actually that's not all…" the boy began, the trouble that was expressed in so much detail on his face causing a pang of regret in Obi-Wan's stomach. "We're here because we lost our way..."

Obi-Wan listened carefully to the boy's confession but his eyes unwittingly became distracted, focusing on Sabé standing on the shore beneath the tumultuous purpling clouds, her attention focused on something far beyond even the Jedi's perception.

"And_that_ is the reason we're all here," a sinister voice joined the fray.

Obi-Wan tensed visibly as a taller man possessed of a shabby black cloak and unsteady legs joined them. He set his jaw determinedly and placed his hand at his side, his sabre close within reach.

"I don't recall anyone asking for your thoughts on the matter, Maul," he said carefully.

The other laughed, the sound hollow and bitter as his bleeding hands drew back the cowl of his cloak to reveal dark red skin and shadowy tattoos.

"I don't recall requiring your permission," Maul responded with a smile of broken, yellow teeth.

The boy looked from one to the other.

"I take it you guys don't get along?" he questioned in such an innocent manner that it brought an entirely different boy to mind.

The Jedi Knight tore his eyes away from the failed Sith apprentice, pausing to look over his shoulder at the carved doorframe set with gilded finery into the mountains cliffs that rose up from the sandy beach.

"I don't believe I caught your names," Obi-Wan said quietly, his voice distracted and he eyes on the doorframe and the diminutive, shadowy figure smothered by the light beyond.

"Oh!" the boy exclaimed, "My name's Sora, and this is Donald," he indicated the agitated almost-Fosh, and then turned to the other and added; "and this is Goofy."

He paused again and then said:

"Do you guys perhaps know where this place is?"

Maul spat the same hollow laughter from his lips once more and, at a glare from Obi-Wan, fell silent, his lips curling in disgust.

Somewhere behind him he could hear the splash of Sabé's bare feet in the surf and for a moment he allowed himself the terrible sensation of feeling lost, trapped between the endless bitterness of the fallen Sith and the innocent sorrow of the Queen's one-time Handmaiden.

"This is the End of the World, Sora," Obi-Wan said quietly, "The end of_all_ worlds."

* * *

She allowed the lifeless, salt water to wash over her bare feet, light occasionally breaking the dark clouds above and highlighting her as she stood upon the shore of the beach, shoes discarded and trouser legs rolled up to the knees.

On any other beach, on any other world, this ocean would have been teeming with life, she reflected, but here, at the end of everything, there was only the lonely lapping of surf against the sand.

Once upon a time, she had been amongst the Handmaidens of the Queen of Naboo, now however, she was just another ghostly shadow awaiting the final curtain to fall over the drama of the galaxy she had once known.

"Don't you feel cold?" a voice at her shoulder inquired.

Sabé turned abruptly, her expression one of concern and surprise.

Before her stood a young girl, a year or so younger than her – the same age as the Queen had been when first they had met, Sabé reflected sadly. The other was dressed in a short, satin white summer dress, her pale blonde hair falling over the smooth skin of her shoulders and her eyes deep and questioning, as if her very being was drowning in a thousand mysteries.

"Who are you?" Sabé asked, replying to the girl's question with another question.

The other shrugged and looked away, her eyes clouding with doubt.

"Nobody," she murmured softly.

"That doesn't make any sense," the former Handmaiden remarked sharply, "Everybody is _some_body."

The girl in the white dress lifted her eyes once more.

"Not here," she whispered sadly.

There was something in the way she looked, despite the startling contrast in appearance that reminded Sabé of the former Queen; something that wormed its way into her heart and made her want to reach out and wrap the stranger in her arms.

"_Who are you_?" she asked again.

"Naminé," the other answered after a pause.

A look of confusion came over Sabé's face as she mouthed the name quietly to herself, placing special emphasis on the hard 'ay' sound at the end of the word.

"_Naminé_; that's a Handmaiden's name," she murmured, her eyes fixing on those of the other girl's, "Are you a Handmaiden?"

Naminé smiled sadly again.

"In a way, yes."

"Oh," Sabé said softly, staring once more at the waves, uncertain of what else to say.

"It's a thankless job, isn't it?" Naminé said after some time. "Being someone else's shadow, I mean."

Sabé felt the words burn her ears, her stomach roiling in protest at the sound of them and her mind shying away from their meaning.

"Yes," she answered, her voice dulled by pain.

Naminé smiled cautiously but earnestly, reached out a snow-white hand and wrapped her cold fingers around Sabé's own.

"It's even worse to lose that person, isn't it?" the pale girl continued.

Sabé felt tears sting her eyes.

"Yes." She agreed again.

Gently, Naminé pulled the other girl close to her. Their lips met and Sabé felt a thrill of excitement in the pit of her stomach.

She didn't try to resist, allowing Naminé to wrap her arms tightly around her, her cold lips pushed against hers.

She remembered the first time her lips had met the absent Queen's in such a way, the first real test of her servitude, her role as Handmaiden. She could still smell the sweet scent of muja fruit and taste the warm wake-tea on her lips, still felt the gentle caresses of her soft hands and only now, as Naminé pushed closely against her, did she realise how much she missed the former Queen of Naboo.

Tears sprung once more to her eyes and gently Naminé pulled away, reaching with those snow-white hands to wipe the flowing tears away.

"Close your eyes," she whispered softly, "Soon all of this world will fade away."

"I don't care about this world!" snapped Sabé, her voice suddenly fierce, "I want the old world back…I want everything to be like it was before…"

Her rage dissolved in the face of further tears and gently Naminé pulled her close once again, running her hands gently through the other girl's dark hair.

With desperate sorrow, the Queen's handmaiden continued to sob into the other girl's chest.

Sora approached the ragged doorway in the mountains alone and with immense trepidation.

* * *

The younger boy stood alone before him, the light of eternity spilling out at his back and making his features indistinguishable from shadow.

"Are you here to save me from the dark?" the boy asked softly.

Sora squinted, lifting a hand to his face so as to protect his eyes from the luminance that spilt out of the space behind the other.

"Just turn around," he advised, "If you turn around you'll see that you're standing in light."

The shadowy other shook his head sadly, his breath rattling in his chest.

"I can't," he protested, "I'm too scared."

"There's nothing to be scared of, trust me," Sora said, unable to look directly at the boy for fear of how bright the light behind him was.

"You don't know that, you haven't been where I've been," the other remarked.

"But I know where you are _now_," Sora replied, digging his hands into the pockets of his shorts and drawing out the simple card that he had used to open the door.

The card depicted a young boy with hair the colour of sand and dead eyes, a grotesque, blackened skull superimposed over his youthful features. Beneath the picture was a description scrawled in a flowing hand: _The Lost Boy's Heart/Grave of the Chosen One_.

He looked up again into the blinding light.

"All these people are trapped here because you can't let go," he said, changing tact.

"I don't _want_ to let go!" the boy snapped, his temper flaring.

The shadow stood fuming for a moment and then slowly his eyes drifted to the gathered group of people beyond. He saw Obi-Wan, youthful once more, like he had been when they first met, and Maul, the Sith apprentice that had murdered Qui-Gon Jinn and beyond that, on the beach, stood proud Sabé, the Queen's shadow, reduced to tears by the finality that had reached out for all of them.

Slowly he turned his eyes down towards his hands. Though shrouded in shadow they were not the cold durasteel limbs he had grown accustomed to…but the hands of a child.

"This is who I used to be…" he murmured quietly.

"This is who you _really_ are," Sora contradicted him.

Slowly, Anakin Skywalker lifted his head.

"And I can go now?" he asked.

Behind the darkness, his lips became a sad smile that looked awkward upon his youthful face.

He heard the soft rustling of leaves blowing in from some unseen autumnal forest, carrying with them the distant voice of the man who had raised him up from the squalor and desolation of Tatooine, the man who had died at the hands of the solemn Sith on the shore beyond; Qui-Gon Jinn.

'_Let go, Anakin,'_ the whisper entreated him,_'Let go…'_

"This was all it took?" he asked softly to himself, his eyes still staring intently at his hands.

He lifted his head and looked sadly at Sora, his eyes intently studying the other boy as if by doing so he might uncover some idea of how he had managed to remain so untouched by shadow.

Without another word, he turned away from the shore. The light spilt over his face, illuminating his features for a moment in eternity and then the world disappeared, fading beneath the resurgent luminance and elegance of Castle Oblivion.

Sora blinked, finding himself standing before an open door. He heard the footsteps and excited exchange of Donald and Goofy as they approached.

He turned and smiled and together they walked through the door without incident.

Behind them, the phantom sound of waves against the shore filled the room.

Naminé stood alone, her feet still damp from the ocean and her cheeks warm with another girl's tears.


End file.
